Eight nations have confirmed participation by arrival into Kigali, Rwanda’s capital for the Kwibuka T20 tournament.
The women’s event is slated to transpire from the 9th to the 18th of June at Gahanga Stadium and the IPRC Oval.
Among the fly-ins are cup debutants Brasil, Botswana from the south, and Uganda who pulled out of the competition last year siting cases of COVID-19 in their camp.
In 2019, matches at this tournament attained the Women’s T20 international status meaning the ladies won’t only vie for the title but also seek to impact on their countries’ ICC ranking.
Currently Uganda, ranked 19th head into the competition with their heads held high after a successful campaign in Nepal that shrugged off their drop in Namibia.
Tanzania are 18th by ICC rankings making them the solo team in the series ranked ahead of the Victoria pearls.
Kwibuka means “to remember”.
The tournament is organized yearly by the Rwanda Cricket Association in remembrance of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The maiden Kwibuka tournament was played in 2014 at the Gahanga International cricket Stadium former Kicukiro Oval by only Rwanda and Uganda which the latter won by 4-1.
Next to win in 2015 was defending champions Kenya as the host country Rwanda didn’t register a win to their name in that edition.
2021 winners, Kenya happen to be the most successful nation of the tournament possessing four titles followed by Uganda holding two then Tanzania with one.
Host Rwanda is yet to bag a title despite it’s record performances against Mali that blew the competition further in 2019.
Visibly the series gained international recognition along the way owing to the fact that two non African countries (Brasil and Germany) will take part for the first time, in this edition.
On Thursday, Rwanda versus Uganda, and Kenya against Botswana will unfold the tournament in the Gahanga Stadium and IPRC Oval respectively at 9:30am (EAT).
Also to play on day one will be Brasil and Nigeria at 1:30pm Gahanga Stadium.
